Five point-plan to lose 30 lbs

Over the course of the last year and a half, I've embarked on a weight-loss program that was rooted in slow and gradual change rather than the quick-fix. Inspired by the birth of my daughter and the desire to always (at least for the foreseeable future) be able to run a 10K with one-week's notice, a 1/2 Marathon with three months notice and 26.2 miles in six months notice. I'm not doing that again! Well...never say never. Since June 2006, I've managed to drop a little over 30 pounds. Here is my five six-point plan...roughly in order of importance.

1. Eat fewer calories than your body burns

Major hat-tip to one guy who's defiantly smarter than I am in many respects, Jeremy Zawodny. He was smart enough to discover the Hacker's Diet and shared his results on his blog back (you guessed it) in June of 2006. Figure out how many calories your body burns in an average day by monitoring what you eat and what you gain/lose for about a week or two. There are 3,500 calories in a pound. If you reduce your caloric intake by 350 calories below what your body burns for ten days, you'll lose a pound. Simple right? Keep a food journal and track your five-day average [see chart above]. Look at the trends. It's ok to splurge once in awhile, just keep an eye on the trend you're setting.

2. Exercise a little bit...not a lot

You can drop the pounds without the exercise but it's good to build a little muscle as long as you're trying to get healthy and in my case, I wanted to get back into running. It can also burn calories but that is less important because exercising a lot also tends to make me hungry...and hungry by a margin that exceeds the calories I'm burning in the process...making the activity net-negative. Exercise is good...but don't go crazy

3. Get *daily* feedback on your progress and focus on *trends*

Weighing yourself everyday can be de-motivating at times but the feedback is important. How are you doing? Focus on trends (5-day average) not daily fluctuations. Are you a spread-sheet junkie? Roll-up your sleeves and use this template. It can be addictive...but in a good way.

4. Be a good business-traveler

The biggest challenge for me has been business travel...when you have less control over the meals you're consuming and late-night meetings in a bar are a more common-place than back home. Jason Calcanis had a great list of helpful hints I try to follow (but rarely do.) See previous note on, "it's ok to splurge once in awhile." This normally coincides with business travel and vacations.

5. Put your money where your mouth is

My weight loss wasn't all smooth sailing. Earlier this year I hit a low water-mark and then started to creep back up the scale. As my progress continued to falter, I introduced a new element to the program. I placed a small wager on the mission. $100 on the line. The Biggest Loser. In the past, those late night hunger-pains would lead to a trip to the kitchen and now I stay focused on the competition (the cash and bragging rights.) At the very least...buddy up and compare results...it can't hurt.

6. Resist the "you look great" accolades that can derail your weight-loss plan

It feels good to get a compliment. Be gracious and thankful for the nods of admiration but if you haven't hit your goal yet, focus on the finish line.

The journey for me continues. I still haven't hit my goal but wanted to pay-it-forward as Jeremy Zawodny did back in 2006. Thanks for your story. It helped me arrive at my solution...I hope this does the same for others.